SARS-associated Coronavirus Transmission, United States

• Main Authors: Elmira T. Isakbaeva, Nino Khetsuriani, R. Suzanne Beard, Angela Peck, Dean D. Erdman, Stephan S. Monroe, Suxiang Tong, Thomas G. Ksiazek, Sara Lowther, Indra Pandya Smith, Larry J. Anderson, Jairam Lingappa, Marc-Alain Widdowson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2004-02-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS); outbreak; SARS-associated coronavirus; epidemiology; transmission; natural history
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/2/03-0734_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

To better assess the risk for transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome–associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), we obtained serial specimens and clinical and exposure data from seven confirmed U.S. SARS patients and their 10 household contacts. SARS-CoV was detected in a day-14 sputum specimen from one case-patient and in five stool specimens from two case-patients. In one case-patient, SARS-CoV persisted in stool for at least 26 days after symptom onset. The highest amounts of virus were in the day-14 sputum sample and a day-14 stool sample. Residual respiratory symptoms were still present in recovered SARS case-patients 2 months after illness onset. Possible transmission of SARS-CoV occurred in one household contact, but this person had also traveled to a SARS-affected area. The data suggest that SARS-CoV is not always transmitted efficiently. Laboratory diagnosis of SARS-CoV infection is difficult; thus, sputum and stool specimens should be included in the diagnostic work-up for SARS-CoV infection.